Rivalry
by Duke157
Summary: Daphne never liked that freckle faced, pea-brained, redheaded imbecile. Rated T for some language. Companion piece to the 'Of Course I Do' universe.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. It all belongs to JK Rowling.**

 **Word Count: 1430**

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 **Challenge:** Are you Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge

 **Prompt:** 582\. (word) Imbecile

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 **This is a companion fic to my stories 'Of Course I Do' and 'First and Last'. If you want to read this without those, I will provide a brief summary down below, but it is recommended you go and read those two before reading this because it is moderately related to them. You may not understand everything here without that.**

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Daphne grew agitated as he moved closer and closer to the girl of her dreams. _'Why can't that imbecile just keep his greasy, disgusting, food-covered hands to himself?'_ she thought.

The raven-haired Slytherin nearly deformed the spoon in her hand when Ron playfully bumped Hermione in the shoulder.

"Stop touching her, you're making it all worse!" she mouthed, careful not to raise her voice so she didn't alert anyone having lunch at the Slytherin table. Being a young little girl in her sixth year, she still feared for her life; so she did not fancy being tagged as a blood traitor until Harry I-cannot-be-killed Potter finally decided to confront his fate and overthrow the Dark Lord, instead of gallivanting around the She-Weasley like a stupid dog.

Unable to tolerate this bullshit any longer, Daphne shot one hard glare at the infuriating redhead, grabbed a couple of cheese sandwiches, and proceeded to exit from the Great Hall.

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Daphne surveyed her surroundings, making sure nobody played witness to her little bout of mischief. In her opinion he deserved it for making Hermione cry; even if he did so by going out with that annoying bitch who just cannot stop talking.

Releasing Hermione from his clutches did make Daphne somewhat happy; but making Hermione cry was a still a pretty big offense in Daphne's rulebook, so appropriate justice must be served.

She quickly replaced the ink bottle in his bag with a bottle of vanishing ink, courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke shop. With another quick survey of the classroom and the corridor to find them both empty, Daphne bolted from the scene of the crime.

Later, Daphne found great joy in watching the extremely hilarious public scolding Snape gave the idiot for submitting a blank sheet of parchment for his homework essay. One of her fellow housemates even conjured up a bag of popcorn for the occasion. It was the best day she'd had in weeks.

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Daphne anxiously ran around the battlefield as she desperately searched the castle for her lady love. Astoria was safe in the common room and Daphne didn't care about her parents; so that left only one person who still mattered to her in all of this mess.

It took her well over an hour to find who she was looking for; but what she saw broke her heart as much as it relieved it. She found Hermione engaged in a heated lip-lock with the last person Daphne wanted to see on the other end. With a heavy heart, the Slytherin turned around and headed back down to dungeons.

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In her 8th year, coming back to Hogwarts fresh after the war, Daphne wasn't too hopeful when it came to her love life. The girl she loved was in a relationship with the boy she hated, the out lesbian representation at Hogwarts was terrible at best, and even she did find someone with the right sexuality, who would want to go out with the daughter of two high-profile Death Eaters.

So the conversation she stumbled upon right outside the charms classroom within her first week back was something she would consider a divine intervention in her love life.

"… Ron! I do not like you like that. That was only a kiss of desperation, it didn't mean anything…" she heard Hermione say in her angelic voice.

Daphne did not bother herself with the scene any longer; she did not care that Weasley was still dead-set on making Hermione his brooding mare. All that matter to Daphne was that she still had a chance with the girl of her dreams; and Merlin be damned if she didn't even _attempt_ to woo her this time.

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With a quick flick of her wrist, Daphne fired a body bind curse at the infuriating rival for her love. She did not understand why she had to deal with him any further when Hermione clearly stated to him many, many times that she didn't consider him in that manner.

"WHO THE BLOODY FUCK IS THERE?! JUST GET OUT HERE YOU LITTLE SLYTHERIN COWARD! I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU UP SO BADLY WHEN I GET FREE THAT NOBODY WOULD EVEN RECOGNIZE YOUR FACE!"

With a sigh of exasperation, Daphne covered herself in a dark cloak, disguised her voice as that of a man, and stepped out into the dark corridor to confront her prisoner.

"YOU WATC-" Daphne used a silencing spell to cut him off before he assaulted her eardrums any further.

"I really do not want to deal with you, but unfortunately my situation demands it." Daphne said as she leaned in and grabbed the struggling redhead by his white Gryffindor shirt.

"Listen to me Weasley, listen to me very, very closely." Ron calmed down a little bit to hear what she had to say. Daphne smiled under her cloak and continued. "This isn't about the war or about blood prejudice or any other such bullshit. I may be a Slytherin, but I haven't believed in that sort of thing since I was in my fourth year. This is about Hermione Granger, and I want you to understand that she does not like you like that. She does not want to be your girlfriend or your wife or the star in whatever disgusting fantasy you've built in your head for your future. She will be the one that ultimately chooses who she will end up with; and she has explicitly told you time and time again that the person she wants is not you. So will you finally leave her alone?"

Ron started struggling against curse once again, prompting Daphne to roll her eyes. With another sigh, the Slytherin lifted her wand to the Gryffindor's special place and then asked him once again. "Weasley. I asked you a question. Will you finally leave her alone?" Her tone was much darker than before, rendering the restless redhead still with fear.

He finally gave in to her demand with a slow nod, causing a smile to break out on Daphne's face.

"Good boy. Now remember, I'll always be ready to kidnap you if I find you bothering Hermione with this bullshit again. You will never be her lover again, you'll never stand in my way with her again, and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that. Goodnight, Weasley."

Daphne made sure she was almost out of the deserted corridor before she removed the spell, and disappeared from the area before Ron could catch up and find out who attacked him.

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It had become a tradition of sorts between the pair of Daphne Greengrass and Ronald Weasley; a tradition that baffled Hermione every time she saw the two interact.

The tradition started a little while after Ron started talking to the pair again; and even now, a few years after the unlikely lesbian pair got together, Ron and Daphne bickered constantly over anything and everything on this planet that concerned Hermione. It was almost like they were each other's nemesis, and this was just a cartoon on the television. It got to the point where Hermione found herself actively involved in the quest to find a girlfriend for Ron, just so they would stop this nonsensical practice.

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After the wedding ceremony and the dance, Hermione came across one of the most perplexing scenes she had ever witnessed in her entire life. After over nine years of bickering, fighting, hexing, arguing, threatening, and so much more, Hermione came across her new wife, and her best friend engaged in what can only described as a conversation between the best of friends; but everyone at the wedding knew that was clearly not the case.

Later, Hermione approached her new wife about the incident. "Daph, what on earth is going on between you and Ron? Are you two just being cordial for the wedding? Or…"

Daphne pulled Hermione in for a chaste kiss. "No, love. We have decided once and for all to set aside our differences. Weasley approached me while I was doing my hair, and apologized for not accepting us sooner; we had a light chat after our dance and decided that the best course of action would be to maintain a light friendship of mutual respect. At the very least, we are willing to do this for your sake. Think of this as a joint wedding gift from the both of us."

Hermione couldn't help the tear that slipped out of her eye as she said "Thank you, love."

The newlyweds dove into a kiss to kick off the rest of their happy and contented lives.

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 **This is the first time I'm properly connecting the stories and so I really want to see how you all feel about this.**

 **Let me know in a review down below. I really appreciate those.**

 **Now, onto the Summary.**

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 **Brief Summary: (please do not read if you intend to read the stories)**

 **From Of Course I Do:** Daphne uses a message sheet (a magical version of chatting) to woo Hermione. In that, Hermione explains that Ron was bothering her even though she turned him down. So she attacks him to teach him that Hermione doesn't want him. The two girls get together later that year. Daphne is anonymous until that point.

For a while after they get together, Ron doesn't speak to them. They get closer in the mean time.

 **From First and Last:** Around nine years after they get together in Of Course I Do, the pair get married. Here, Ron finally apologizes to Daphne for not accepting them, as described in the story.

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 **That's all you need to know, but it's recommended to check out the stories themselves to understand more.**


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